Description

On 28 October 2008, an Airbus A330-200 (G-OJMC) being operated by Thomas Cook Airlines on passenger flight from Montego Bay, Jamaica to London Gatwick could not be rotated during its night takeoff until the Captain as PF had advanced the thrust setting to Take-off / Go-around (TO/GA) Mode after which rotation was achieved and the aircraft lifted off prior to the end of the runway and climbed away safely. Takeoff performance data, which was subsequently found to have been in gross error, had been obtained from Company Despatch when the on board Performance Manual could not be found.

The Investigation

The Investigation was delegated to the UK AAIB by the State of Occurrence. It was found that the operating crew had been supplemented by an additional on duty crew member. This pilot was an A330 line Captain and also a qualified A320/A321 Training Captain.

The Investigation found that during the pre-flight preparation, the flight crew had been unable to locate the aircraft performance manual and had therefore asked the Operator’s flight dispatch department in the UK to calculate the figures using the Airbus Flight Operations Versatile Environment (FOVE) computer system. The FOVE system is a Class 1 Hardware and Type 3 Software Electronic Flight Bag (EFB)

Both the aircraft commander and the co-pilot stated that they had independently received the same takeoff performance figures and these were entered into the Flight Management Guidance System (FMGS).